Last week's "Fresh Ice Cuts" on Ice on Broad Street mentioned that Flyers starting goalie, Michael Leighton, had to leave the ice right before the shootout against Toronto in the Flyers third preseason game. News came out today that now Michael Leighton will miss roughly a month due to a bulging disk in his back. Leighton intially hurt his back during his offseason workouts.
Now the spotlight turns once again to Brian Boucher. Boucher is the only other goalie on the Flyers to make consecutive starts, or who has two career starts for that matter. Backing him up, for now, will be Russian rookie Sergei Bobrovsky, who has looked great in the preseason with a 2-0-1 record.
Johan Backlund's name a also been banged around the Flyers community. Backlund is currently rehabbing an offseason hip surgery. According to CSNPhilly's Tim Panotchio, Flyers GM Paul Holmgren would not say if Backlund was an option. However when Backlund was re-signed the concensus thought was that he would compete for the starting job.
Brian Boucher got the start in tonight's contest against the New Jersey Devils, the game can be viewed at Flyers.nhl.com. Boucher has shown in his recent past that he is capable and willing to carry the torch for this team. A tough schedule is his biggest obstacle. The Flyers will start off the season playing the Pens 3 times in October. Their first 5 games are against Marc-Andre Fleury (twice), Jaroslav Halak, Craig Anderson, and Dan Ellis.
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